Matt, Ben and I were discharged on Sunday, July 19. We were very ready to be going home. On our way home, we stopped at Sinclair. It was the first time we had to think about being normal people and having a baby! Matt ran in for drinks and Ben and I stayed in the car. We spent the afternoon with family and friends checking in on us and loving baby Ben!
I was feeling great after we got home! On Monday night I started to get a headache. I figured it was related to exhaustion, dehydration, starvation, and stress. We had more visitors and a neighbor brought over dinner. Ben was a little fussy and wanted to eat all the time! We had a rough night- I was up every other hour (or less) feeding and Ben was screaming! He was not happy!
By Tuesday afternoon, my headache was terrible. I called my doctor and she prescribed some heavier pain meds, which we picked up on our way to Ben's appointment with the pediatrician. At the doctor's office, they checked Ben over and everything looked good. He weighed 7 pounds 11 ounces, which was 9 ounces less than when he was born. Dr. Brown wasn't worried as long as he didn't lose any more weight. He recommended that we go to the lactation specialist to find out what was going on. After the appointment, my headache still hadn't gone away so I called my doctor again, who told me that I could go to the ER if I needed to, but she didn't think it was an epidural headache and figured the pain meds would take care of it. I had an awful night. My headache wouldn't go away, Ben was starving and screaming, and I was trying to feed him every 45 minutes. Matt had to go to young men's so I was alone for a few hours and got a little emotional. I didn't know what was wrong or what to do! After Matt got home, we talked a lot about what to do. We realized that Ben was starving and that he wasn't getting enough from me. We decided to try giving him some formula to get through the night. He slept so well that night! That was when we realized that I wasn't producing enough milk to feed Ben. It made a huge difference for him (and us) to have a good night's sleep.
On Wednesday, my mom and Jeff came up for the day. I had an appointment with a lactation specialist so my mom came with Ben and I to that, and Matt and Jeff went to work on his dad's house. The lactation specialist weighed Ben and he was back up to 8 pounds 2 ounces after one night of good feedings. She gave me some great advice about nursing and helped us put together a plan. She was concerned about my headache and swollen feet. She thought that my milk hadn't come in because my body was working hard to heal so many other things, and encouraged me to go to the ER about my headache. We spent a ridiculous three hours in the ER and left without any pain relief. They didn't think my headache was bad enough for any treatment other than an IV of fluids. Luckily, we had figured out how to help Ben, so I was able to deal with my headache.
On Thursday and Friday, Ben and I stayed home and rested all day. Matt went to work on his dad's house and we spent the day relaxing. Sleeping really helped! I was almost totally better by Saturday. We even went to Sam's Club and visited Matt at his dad's house. It is definitely easier to take care of a newborn when you feel good yourself!
After the crazy week, I realized that it didn't matter how I felt, all that mattered was my sweet new baby boy! I apologize in advance, but here are a bunch of phone pictures of my baby! It made me so happy when we were able to keep him happy!
Isn't he the cutest?
No comments:
Post a Comment